The present invention relates generally to the automatic compacting, homogenizing and packing of tuna loins into plastic bags so that the loins can be frozen and shipped to canning plants. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for automatically forming packets of homogenized tuna loins and packing the packets into elongated plastic bags in regions where the tuna are caught for shipment to distant canning plants.
At present, tuna that are caught in the waters of the central and western Pacific and the eastern Pacific are frozen soon after being caught. The frozen fish are thawed, cooked and typically cleaned by hand at local plants in Asia, Pacific Islands and South America, for example. The loins are thereafter hand packed into plastic wrappers, refrozen and shipped to distant canning plants in the United States, for example. At the canning plants, the frozen plastic wrapped loins are again thawed for processing. The thawed loins are then typically formed into product cake and packed into cans or pouches.
The prior art hand packing of raw loins for shipment includes several inefficiencies which the present invention overcomes. Hand packing is labor intensive and expensive. The hand packed loins are of various sizes, requiring further processing at the canning plant. The various size packages cause inefficient packing for shipment. The hand packed loins are not homogeneous, i.e., they tend to have air pockets and/or various densities and are not packed efficiently for shipment.
The present invention overcomes the above described problems by providing a method and apparatus for automatically packing the raw tuna loins. The loins are automatically formed into uniform sized packets compatible with the sizes used in the canning plants. The packets formed by the present invention are compacted and homogenized, i.e., having uniform density. The homogenized packets are automatically packed into uniform sized bags. The uniform sized bags are densely and fully packed to provide maximum efficiency in shipment. By forming packets of a size compatible with canning plant machinery, less processing is required at the canning plant and overall efficiency is maximized. The design of the packing equipment is simple as well as robust; allowing the equipment to be used at relatively remote locations.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus of simple but rugged design that replaces the step of hand packing of tuna loins into plastic wrappers for shipment to distant canning plants.
The apparatus is of simple, but rugged design, and capable of extended use with minimal repair and/or replacement of parts.
The present invention includes multiple advantages of packing the loins by machine versus the prior art hand packing.
The present invention achieves significant labor savings at the packing end since the automatic packing of the loins will significantly reduce the amount of necessary hand labor.
Another advantage is the tamped and homogenized tuna packed into bags is easier to handle at canning plants than the hand packed loins presently received by canning plants, and is also easier to ship. The homogenized tuna thaws out more uniformly at the canning plant than the hand packed tuna loins.
The present invention achieves significant space savings at the packing end due to the significant reduction of manual labor.
A significant advantage is that the present invention achieves an increased rate of filling and sealing the bags, increasing production while simultaneously achieving better quality.
An additional advantage of the invention is that the portion control is more uniform in that the bags are filled and metered simultaneously and automatically.
A further advantage is that loin and flake tuna are mixed in the same proportions as in a traditional cannery.
A further advantage is that smaller bags can be used because the machine filling of bags requires no clearance for hand placement otherwise required during the hand packing of the loins.
An additional advantage is that the vacuum operation requires less time because the loin is compressed and smaller bags are utilized.
An additional advantage is labor savings at the canning plants since the frozen packets at the packing end fit the filler infeed after thawing much better than did the hand packed tuna loins.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and the drawings wherein: